The Nats' wild pitch: President Taft

With the Washington Nationals in spring training, the newest racing mascot president, William Howard Taft, will soon face off against George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Here are eight things you need to know about Taft:

1. He threw out the ceremonial first ball at the Washington Senators’ season opener in 1910 at National Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Since then, every president, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, has thrown out the first ball at least once.

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2. The traditional seventh-inning stretch — when fans generally take a break from sitting to stretch their legs — is rumored to have started with Taft. When fans saw the president stand at a game, they felt obligated to do the same.

3. As the largest president, Taft’s weight has been the butt of many jokes, but as far as baseballs go, Taft was the same weight as more than 1,000 baseballs: One ball weighs at least 5 ounces and there are 16 ounces in 1 pound. So, at over 350 pounds, he weighed about the same as 1,120 balls.

4. A larger bathtub was installed at the White House to fit “Big Lub” — a nickname he earned in college, when he already weighed more than 240 pounds. The new tub could accommodate four average-size men.

5. His typical breakfast consisted of “two oranges, a 12-ounce beefsteak, several pieces of toast and butter and a vast quantity of coffee with cream and sugar” according to the diary from a White House housekeeper.

6. Taft was known to be a sleepy president, nodding off even during significant events, including conversations with the speaker of the House, the chief justice of the United States and the wife of the French ambassador. He was also rumored to have fallen asleep during his own inaugural parade.

7. Baseball pitches and new bathtubs aside, Taft had several other presidential firsts: He was the first to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery; the first to have his funeral broadcast on the radio; the first to have a presidential automobile (he converted the White House stables into garages); and the first to occupy the Oval Office, which was operational as of October 1909.

8. He also had a presidential last: He was the last to keep a cow at the White House. The first was named Mooly Wooly, but when she died, Pauline Wayne took her place. Pauline was said to have produced 64 quarts of milk a day, and the president earned $80 a day when the milk was sold.